Showing posts with label selena. Show all posts
Trying Out New Things
Winter
is absolutely my favourite season. There is hot-chocolate, eggnog, gingerbread,
snow, Christmas…who doesn’t love Christmas? You don’t have to celebrate
Christmas, but the general jolly-ness of the holiday always makes my day. In
Vancouver, the absolute must-do during winter is to go skiing, or snowboarding.
If you feel like speed is not your thing, there is always cross-country skiing,
but that’s not what this article’s about. I’ve never skied before coming to
Canada. But at the urging of many family members and friends, I decided to go
for it.
As a
kid (>12 I think), they were very cheap
season tickets. Going with a friend is probably a good idea, preferably
somebody who knows what they’re doing because learning (at least for me) was
not easy. Yes, skiing and snowboarding look
cool, but when you’re actually on those flat pieces of plastic, the ground
really does seem to move fast. My first time snowboarding, I couldn’t go down
the bunny hill. But of course, everything gets better with practice. Unfortunately
for me, my dad thought I got enough practice on the very first day.
So
off I go, with him at the top waiting and me on a green. Yes, green runs are
supposed to be easy but that was actually the first day I was on a snowboard.
So precariously I turned and stopped, turned and stopped, sometimes just edging
my way down the hill. However half way down, the wind started to pick up and
before I knew it, I was in the middle of a blizzard. There was snow and wind
blowing everywhere, sometimes so thick that I could barely see which way is up
and which way is down, only relying on gravity. And that didn’t work so well as
gravity also made you fall. So there I was falling and stopping and going
slower than a person walking. And there wasn’t anything I could do; walking
back up was way too far, so I kept on going.
After
almost 2.5 hours I finally saw the shadow of chairlifts at the end of the run. Words
cannot describe the relief I felt; there wasn’t a happier sight. I finally got
on the chairlift, taking me up in less than 10 minutes,
and of course, falling again when I got off. But
I went back. Even though I was terrified afterwards, I went back again and
again, and now, snowboarding’s my favourite thing in the world.
So
the moral of the story? Skiing is awesome, and there’s a reason Vancouver
hosted the winter Olympics. But more than that, it’s to always try something
new. To try, try again because one day, you’ll succeed. One day, you’ll look
back and realize these experiences have made you far more as a person, and be
filled with pride. That day, you’ll be a happy person.
- Selena
Trying to Solve the Problems of Stereotypes
According to the Oxford Dictionary, stereotypes is a "widely held but fixed and oversimplified
image or idea of a particular type of person or thing".
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| Photo Credits: Matthew Wiebe |
And yet, people have been trying to get rid
of stereotypes for the better part of a decade. Why? Because stereotypes limit
us. Stereotypes can be something that ties people together, yet also cages us.
It is easy to let who we are determine what we like, instead of the other way
around. And the obvious answer: set yourself free. Don’t let stereotypes trap
you. Don’t be boggled down with what others expect of you, want from you, and
see you as.
If only it were that easy.
If only it were that easy.
Stereotypes still exist only because we want
and we feel the need to “fit in”. We can be the personality clones, wearing
different faces, inside our little cliques. Or we could all be radical
individuals, lonely yet special. But honestly, neither of those sounds very
appealing. So we want both, or to be somewhere in the middle. But how? How do
we conform to a group, yet still retain that vital individuality?
I don’t know.
 |
| Photo Credits: Viktor Hanacek |
A stereotype is identifying a person/group by
one of their aspect. So let’s flip the board around. If it was not the
projection that had the problem, then perhaps it’s the projector itself we have
to focus on.
If we stop recognizing and categorizing
people based on race, gender….then we really wouldn’t have the whole stereotype
problem. Yes, stereotypes exist. But as long as we, ourselves, remember that
everyone (yes everyone) is more than just what you see of them, then we would
have a much easier time actually getting to know each other.
By understanding that we are actually all
different people, with different likes, dislikes, ideals…then slowly
stereotypes are broken. You discover the Asian raps, the jock is into science.
The world turns from being well….stereotypical…to a 3-D, exciting, living
place.
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| Photo Credits: Lee Scott |
Perhaps by now you would think I’ve gone on
and on without really giving a solution. But really, if there was such an easy
way out, why would there still be a problem? So cliques and stereotypes are a
process. If we see a direction, we head towards it. We take two steps forwards
and one step back. Perhaps there never will be a solution. Perhaps between here
and there, the struggles we face, that’s what makes life worth living. And who
knows, maybe at the end, the world will be a much prettier place.
- Selena
